haplain's never-ending quest

Check my massive 0.75" speaker in the Cube...

More prototype Cube

Just how I start my Sunday's, pun intended...

wow beautiful hap!

i am happy for you.

you have put alot of blood sweat tears and bengerman's too.

There's not much more one can say other than... sweeeet!

Nice that Cube looks sweet! Is there a physical eject button on the case for the CD player?

Yessir their is. Most people don't realize it but the factory Cube drive also has a button, it's just much smaller and unsuspecting. That button on the proto drive is massive though. The part number is one I can't find by Apple, period.

Does that cube have the gigabit adapter?

Haha, no clue. I didn't know what you were talking about. I googled G4 Cube gigabit ethernet and sure enough something about a prototype Cube came up. How would I check that. I'd assume it does. The thing's a beast.

Very, very nice. :O

The DVD drive on the G4 cube - am I seeing things, or is it a desktop 5.25" drive? I haven't seen a Cube in 13 years, but from what I remember don't the production models run a slot load iMac/TiBook form factor drive?

Yes his cube has a full drive. Yes the production cube has a smaller drive which is half the height. If you look at the enclosure his whole cube is way taller inside also.

Basically, as stated below, everything about that proto Cube is different, even down to the pillars that hold the faceplate on. There are more differences that similarities, that I can find. The only thing that appears to be the same is the modem card, video riser, and the cabling itself (IDE, VRM/HD power, reset buttons, PCI power, PRAM battery cable). The MOBO, CD drive/bracket, chassis, pillars, front bezel, ethernet, CPU, heat sink, acrylic case, metal housing, speaker, boot rom, and even the Apple symbol is actually metallic paint are different from a stock Cube. It's so different only the form/factor remain somewhat the same as a stock Cube.

Yay prototypes

w o w

MORE PICS! MORE PICS! Please! I have to see some close up images. Those are amazing. Did you get them as 1 lot or all separately?

I love Hap's protos. It's such a fascinating, sideways look at the products we all know.

Does your location help you out much in finding these or do they end up coming to you from all over the place?

1 AWESOME transaction.

My location, undoubtedly, has made the quest easier. The Transparent PB140 and all these iPhones/iPods/cases are from ex-employees. They are all such awesome people too. While the stuff I walk away with is cool, the stories are priceless. More or less, EVERY prototype minus my Lisa 2 I've bought within 50 miles of my physical address. Sometime I don't even have to buy anything just am given stuff. Apple people are the best, period.

I'll take some better photos and post them... anything in particular. I'd guess you want to see the iPhone 1 with Serial number and FCC number XXXXXXX-XXX

I'll agree on the former Apple employees. I've gotten some cool stuff from a couple but my location isn't exactly the best for bumping into them

can you power some of them up… i would like to see them all powered up

What the iPhone's powered up... or all my machines? The iPhone OS will BLOW your mind, it's insane looking, it makes Switchboard look like iOS 7

yeah the hand held devices

Okay, I'm going to prepare you now, just get ready. The working iPhone prototypes are CRAZY! When you start one of them, it flashes through some colors right... and then rather than having an Apple logo, there's a MASSIVE acorn that appears on the screen haha

Those iPhone prototypes are running "SkankPhone", right?

Didn't know what that was until I looked it up... Nope not what it has on it, looks way way earlier than that. Skankphone is basically the first Switchboard what I have is much much different and probably earlier. It looks like an iPod when it starts. The iPhone actually displays a logo that says "iPod Classic" when it start. It then start into what appears to be an old iPod interface but it has the options to SMS, CALL, etc. Same style inference as the iPod colors from 2005. I'll get a photo. It could be one of a kind.

Not to rain on your parade, but... do you have a Twiggy 128k yet? }

Well I've only been collecting, seriously, for about a year and a half now so all in time. Plus, I’m only 26 so time’s on my side. At this rate, I’m going to need to turn my back tinker shed into another museum. There’s a lot of items higher up on my personal list than a Twiggy 128k. Sure it’s cool but I LOVE the clear stuff. Sometime I’ll pull out a contract, hand written by Steve, and post that. I could probably trade that contract straight up for a 128k Twiggy.

iPhone 1st gen prototype in black

iPhone 1st gen prototype, serial number xxxxxxxxxxxx

iPod prototype

OS

:O

If you don't mind me asking, how did you get these?

The coolest friend ever

OS

Click to expand...

Wow. I've never seen anything like that before, apart from a "cydia" application designed to simulate the iPod Classic interface.

This is a great find. I had 2 proto iphones, but ended up selling out and I no longer have them. One ran "skankphone" OS, and the other was dead. See my post from several years ago: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8591

I wonder what would happen if you slapped in an AT&T SIM. Speaking of which, do any if them use CDMA? I remember there was a discussion that the iPhone was original meant to be on Verizon. In fact, it almost was, but Verizon wanted to put their own bloatware and logo on the phone. Of course Apple wouldn't go for that. And look where they are now. It's on Verizon with no bloatware or Verizon logo (minus at the top left of the screen, which is on all iPhone carriers).

I liked that MacBook (PowerBook?) prototype that had the SIM card slot and wireless antenna that flipped up from the LCD.

I'll check it out and see what I can find. I believe my iPhone 1st gen still has the sim card in it. I'll see what happens.

Hey, look what I found among some documents I have... I've literally had these for over 7 years. I thought I'd checked everything out but I guess I didn't look too well. After speaking with some people about this signature, it's one of the rarest ever. Steve, as we know him, would only sign Steve for autographs or anything Apple/Mac related. Finding a signature from the young Steven Jobs is nearly impossible.

Holy smokes! That must have something to do with his mansion in Woodside.

What's even scarier is look at the date... 9/11

9/11 wasn't scary in 1985.

Of course, Steve actually did manage to 9/11 the Jackling House, but ironically it was tied up in court so long that he died before work on the smaller house he wanted to build there ever even got started. (You sort of have to wonder why he bothered tearing it down, he undoubtedly knew he wasn't long for this world by the time the wrecking crew showed up. I guess if he hadn't torn it down he wouldn't have *really*, you know, gotten his way.)

Well yeah it's 16 years too soon but just adds a little more insanity to something that's fairly unbelieveable as is.

I mean I have sentiments to both sides. On one hand someone could argue out of anyone in the world Steve could afford to fix the house. The thing is though people can't be forced to fix something just because their rich. Imagine buying a multimillion dollar house, and your first at that, after a huge ipo success. You live in it but want to make it yours and you vey well should be you bought it, but then a group of people tell you how and what your going to do with said investment. We all know Steve hated to be one upped or stopped. He probably would have been more receptive to fixing it had people not TOLD him what to do. I'm sure he felt like he was losing control of the property and said f it I'll just rip it down because it's mine, I'm smarter, have more lawyers and money. Maybe not the best or kindest logic but I could see being super pissed about being told how your going to remodel the place.

It was a gorgeous home yes. Sad it's gone yes. But at the end of the day it was his house, his property, his decision. Someone/anyone tries to make that decision for you, out of spite, a good number of individuals would make a point. Exactly like Steve did. You think you can stop me... Nope only slow me down. It's what happens when you have two sides unwilling to budge. Eventually one side wins and the other loses. Usually everyone's a loser but someone at least "feels" like they won.

But at the end of the day it was his house, his property, his decision.

Click to expand...

A lot of people, very sensible, fair, reasonable people, would argue that if you buy a historic structure then it's not entirely yours to do whatever you want with, but whatever. Plenty of ink has been spilled about how Steve Jobs didn't think the rules that apply to normal people in a civil society applied to him, I guess there's no reason to start that argument again.

Oh no trust me, having seen the house, I was so sad to hear it was gone. And agreed lets not start an argument but if someone actually cared about saving the house, Steve tried to give it away for many, many years. No one took him up on it because of the amount of $ it would have cost to repair and move... It's always nice to tell someone how to spend their money

that is why you need to call up your bud and get that Proto See through mac portable lol

but if someone actually cared about saving the house, Steve tried to give it away for many, many years. No one took him up on it because of the amount of $ it would have cost to repair and move...

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At least one someone offered to haul it off well before it was demolished at no cost to him. And selling the property was *always* an option.

It's always nice to tell someone how to spend their money

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Steve Jobs' absolute worst case "I'm lying to the court telling them this because no one is saying I actually have to spend my money on the restoration" estimate for what it would have taken to restore Jackling House (after he neglected it to death) would have cost him, relative to his net worth, about what it costs for your average American to buy the family dinner at Applebee's. I'm not exaggerating.

Historic homes become landmarks whenever a landmarks commission decides to make it so, the current owner has no say in the matter in many places like NYC. Heck, owners are required to get permission from the NYC Landmarks Commission in just to make tiny changes like paint color, to do renovations or to turn old industrial landmarks into condominiums.

The Steve was very lucky that Cali law didn't allow such to happen in the case of the Jackling House . . .

. . . or he couldn't have torn it down just for spite.

Or burnt it down.

I can imagine him saying, like Milton in the movie "Office Space"

"Ok, that is the last straw. I set the building on fire." :lol:

That definitely sounds like a Jobsian move.

Yep, kinda like the Steve's slash and burn of extraneous Apple projects on his second coming, but no iMac to save the day.

I think this is probably just about enough thread-jacking about the Steve's unrealized modern house build unless hap wants to make a comment about that one prototype that never was so he can never nab. [] ]'>

edit: check that, hap's bound to wind up with the original architectural drawings for the Steve's house. :

Hey hap,

I'm not sure you know how rare the Twiggy Macintosh is.



I mean you might? lol

Unless i am mistaken isnt there like only 2 that we know of for sure?

This kid in that thread, You know the kid that got that twiggy mac for 20 bucks at a flea market,

and set the real time and bombed his disk… ? !?

I guess if he is telling the truth then he might have the 3rd twiggy mac.

LIke i said HAP is quite the deal maker.

I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up acquiring it.

I mean after all hap has Steve Jobs personal Apple II,

Taken right from the dumpster at Steve's old House lol.

edit: check that, hap's bound to wind up with the original architectural drawings for the Steve's house. :

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But of course I do! I've got the original prints from the original house, and the artist's rendition of the remodel, a copy of the deed, a hand written contract (written by Steve himself), a document called Apple vs. Jobs. sent to his NeXT address, etc.

Who knew that folder contained such things. Probably the best folder I've ever found.

At first I thought you were joking, but you're serious aren't you? You actually have all those documents? If so that is CRAZY! Were they in the trash or something?

Oh yes, I'm absolutely serious. I've got it all in a manila envelope and rotating through my museum...

:lol:

I'm at it again:

I truly believe this is the first working TAM ever built. Thanks uniserver for the help!!! I got it from my buddy who worked on the project. The color, texture and everything about the plastic/paint is special. The front doesn’t have labeled ports. You can see how the mold for the actual machine is different than a stock TAM and they ground the CD area down because it was hitting. The CD door is different and has that hole just drilled in to eject the CD. The speakers fabric are a different color, and missing the tweeter. The screen has that protector on it and is glossy. The CD drive is a prototype as re all the internals, the insides was nothing like a stock TAM. All the cables were different and so much so that it’s a “stock” 6500 board in there, not even a production TAM board. The inside of the machine is gold in color the list goes on and on. The coolest part to me is the start up chime. It’s not a standard Mac chime but its not a normal TAM chime either, it’s one of a kind. The Bose unit is a prototype, and marked as such.

Record that start up chime for us.

It's a video but how can I share it?

You can upload to youtube then post the link

That sounds identical to my Power Macintosh 6400 chime.

Sounds like a normal chime from any Instatower, maybe with a little more bass because of the Bose unit.

Sounds like they used the PCI PowerMac startup chime. A little higher than the G3 and newer chime, and a little lower than the AV Mac chime.

http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/Sounds/StartPowerMacPCI.mov'>http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/Sounds/StartPowerMacPCI.mov

Link from here: http://www.mackido.com/EasterEggs/

-J

it probably sounds like a powermac 6500 start up chime, that is because the board is a powermac 6500 board

now if i were to of been a little more adventurous i could have desoldered the ROM slot from the proto TAM board

and soldered it onto the 6500 board and tried to use that proto ROM simm. then probably your mac chime would have became

the tam one? that is if the rom simm actually works… but i didn't want to get too crazy with that proto board ...

also that other tam proto board i fixed for you… the one that i soldered the 6400 roms onto.

what mac tone did that one make?

if it made the tam sound then that tells me something between the rom and mainboard, even though they were 6400 roms

still knew it was a tam board and played the TAM bong.

witch means probably you could make any 6400 - 6500 play the TAM bong if you were crafty enough like maybe dougg3

They both have very distinctive tones. They are entirely different from one another. The previous prototype TAM you did makes the standard TAM bong but the "new" one makes a noise I've frankly never heard, just because my experience with the 6xxx series is next to nothing.

I just need to pop that proto ROM in the TAM's to see if it works, that would be too cool if it did. For those of you who don't know what were talking about the prototype TAM boards don't have the ROM on the board but rather a chip that plugs into the board. I have 2 of those ROM chips, 1 is known to be bad, the other we're hopeful is working. More to come on that.

I wonder if the mold that this one was created from was also destroyed? I know they destroyed the stock TAM mold but this one is entirely different. Even the FATBACK is from a different mold. It has holes in the FATBACK for heat dissipation.

well that is pretty cool the Tam bong is in the 6400 and 6500 Rom's

yeah try that simm in the working proto TAM board if you get a chance i am curious if its any good… it probably is.

Didn't have a chance to try that ROM chip yet but I will soon.

I wanted to post the photos of this TAM FATBACK so people can see it. Anyone ever seen one like this?

It's a little hard to see, but I tried, to capture the bronze color that TAM is on the inside. You can see the difference in color on the left side of the FATBACK. It's really a unique color. I understand why it wasn't produced in the gold/bronze but it's really neat.

For anyone interested, I'm on this weeks retromaccast podcast with James and John. I repped this site pretty hard, check it out

When I bought this it was really in good shape. All the corners are perfect. I couldn't let it go. There were some blemishes so I got a nice drill out and went at it. Overall I'm really pleased. There's a few small imperfections but compared to when I go it, it's great.

Niiiice!!!!! :approve: So, what the heck size IS IT after all? :?:

How deep is the etching/sandblasting and how the heck was that Garamond type done?

Thanks I appreciate that. 10" all around on the glass 1/2 thick. The etching is about 1/4" deep I have no idea how it's done. The etching is immaculate the then hand painted after. Even the original bulbs in it

I would guess the glass was "ground" or "routered" to depth for each area, as to change what areas catch more light the deeper it is, then normal glass etching acids in the ground out areas. Al you have to do is put tape on the glass and it won't cloud any area other than where it is painted in. An engraving machine that can do glass would be awesome for this, as it can modify depth and can map out reverse as it is set up for that.

If I was still in the Navy we had Hermes engraving machines that could engrave anything. Wish I had 5000 dollars I might just buy one. Any normal computer can run the unit. The software comes with it but it's basically just photoshop with a plug in.

Hap could you use a CAD program for layout? So someone who has access to CNC or an engraver could copy them? I would appreciate it.

Maybe clay on the back and press into in to measure changing depths across the design?

I take it nobody else has seen sandblasted glass process or artwork? :?:

Only issue with sandblasting is the variable depths across the glass. I am sure with any template any option would work. I would just like a layout, if he does one anybody can use whatever is open to them to make it.

Its colored so I guess matching that will be kind of a pain.

I'll post photos of the case and the other prototype parts for this machine later. Just got the board back from uniserver... thanks dude!

yeah i wonder what they hooked up to that j21 connector

Only the pictures can do this bad boy justice. She's no clear portable... but I'll take it

dude your collection is sick,,,

Its an...AlBook G4? :O That is truly something. :O

Prototype PowerBook 17" She's real sexy. I've got another piece coming for it that will "complete the set". I'll let you imaginations run wild with that. More to come soon...

It took me 5 hours to disassemble, clean, tidy and fix her up. It's got a 44pin IDE hd so the only one I have right now is from a TAM (2GB) I'm going to find a larger one and got 10.4 to boot onto it just fine. I'll post some more photos of it soon. Typically I'd do a 44pin to CF card adapter but with something this crazy I want to keep it "stock". The person I got it from said they are working on digging up the original HD. It also has a special OS on it too I'd like to have.

The power supply is one of a kind too. It's a model Apple never shipped and is the predecessor to the MagSafe adapter. Without the power supply this thing would never work, unless I kept another 17" PowerBook just to charge the battery. It looks like a smaller version of the 20/23/30 Aluminum Cinema Display power brick connector, about half the size.

May as well say it. I am extremely jealous!

I'm really interested in seeing that power brick! Is the end still the same as a regular AlBook?

This also proves Apple was doing clear protos until just a few years ago. Hell, they might still do them. Imagine a clear iPhone. :lol:

Complete the set, complete the set... Hmm. I'm thinking either another clear proto 12" or 15" AlBook or a clear iBook G4.

I wonder, can it can boot OS 9 outside of Classic? I bet that hard drive might be running a pre-pre-release version of 10.3 or a patched version of 10.2. Maybe even a beta build of 10.2?

Also, how thick is it? It looks like a beast!

Another great find!

PS: Could you post a closer pic of that sticker where they check off what the System Config is? I'm curious to know who they were testing out for the different parts.

Here you go. I'm trying to figure out if it's a G4 or G5 in there. I'll keep everyone posted. Any thoughts on that power adapter?

looks kinda like a g4 macmini power plug



only there looks like more pins are in the mac mini connector.

It looks like a bigger, fatter, and reversed Lightning Adapter. Will it boot with a newer OS like 10.4? That would be funny if it turned out to be a G5 PowerBook.

my 20" apple cinema display has a kinda similar connector too.

but it also has more pins then yours.





I think yours was a development laptop power plug they were thinking of using… but decided to ride out current tech… until magsafe came out in 2006

lol i am the stupid ass that ran out and bought a CORE DUO 1.8ghz Macbook Pro… when they first came out.. MY god was that thing a total piece of crap. the worst 2399.99 i ever spent!! i think it was the worst buy i have ever did in my entire life.

well no.. i take that back even though at less money the 1.8ghz G5 20" iMac @1799.99… yeah that was 2nd worst purchase i have ever done in my life. Even though it was less money it was a bigger piece of crap.

any external ports? can you hook up a external lcd monitor to it?

i know you said you were having screen issues with it...

In that 2nd image you posted, it said at the top "Q51 Proto 2 Build (12/5/03)". According to wikipedia, Q51 was the codename for the G5 PowerBook!

Is this really what I think it is?!?

Well as much as I trust wikipedia I'll have to see when I get home.

She does have every normal port for a computer of that era i.e. DVI, usb, FireWire 400/800, ethernet, modem.

As uniserver eluded to I'm having backlight issues at the moment. I've got prototype replacement parts for the computer, I'm hoping it's just the inverter board. I should have another prototype one on Thursday and a stock replacement one on Friday to test. I'll keep everyone posted, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a G5 laptop. If it is then pigs can fly } I will be very excited if she is a G5

OOOOO. I'm getting excited and I don't know why. Please take as many pictures as possible. I have a feeling this might make the front page of some Apple sites. "The Mac That Never Was".

that would explain the new power plug, need more power for that beastly G5… do we see any battery in the thing?

if so does it look like any battery pack we have ever seen? -- i know that was the deal with the g5, battery life was bad bad bad.

Holy s**t 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o 8-o

you might have the only G5 power book that exhists…

I know when you originally sent me the email when you first picked it up.

You were like, Oh -ah- ya, I picked some proto mac laptop thing…

then i saw the pictures and said to my self oh wait a minute here….

Look at those massive FFFFFEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTSSSSSSS!!!!!! I guess a LOT of airflow was required for the G5 to operate in that tight of a space. I wonder if it is a prototype chip as well or just a stock G5 slapped on a PowerBook LoBo.

Probably has a 1.6ghz G5 that was used in an iMac…

or maybe they were experimenting with down clocking the G5 to see if they could make it work with some kind of tricky power management. like goes down to 1 - 1.2ghz when idle, and then could kick up to 1.8 ghz when high cpu utilization?

If i was an engineer working on it at the time… and was given a watt hungry pos like the G5 to shoe horn into a lappy, that is about all i would have came up with.

lol

http://news.cnet.com/Apple-on-G5-PowerBook-Not-so-fast/2100-1044_3-5559311.html

"It'd be this really thick, heavy notebook, and it would be loud as all get-out," said Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of the Microprocessor Report. "Those would not be design choices that Apple would want to pursue."

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sounds like they caught a sight of this prototype

The main thing holding back a G5 PowerBook is the chip itself. IBM technical documents show that when running at 2.5GHz and 1.3 volts, the chip consumes a maximum of 100 watts of power, a fair amount of juice for a notebook. However, its power consumption can be reduced by lowering its clock speed or reducing its clock speed along with its voltage, IBM documentation shows.

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i see the dilemma.

Thus, to fit the G5 into a typical PowerBook-size chassis, Apple would have to throttle down the G5, causing the chip to run more slowly than current G4 mobile chips

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yeah the G4 you could clock that monkey up there. didn't they top out at like 1.67 in the G4 Powerbook?

Looking at the sticker, I can just barely make out 1.1GHz and 1.4GHz on the CPU line. It looks to read as follows:

1.1GHz, DD2.0 (P1) 1.4GHz, DD2.0, 45W (P2).

For me its really blurry, so the only that can confirm would be hap.

yeah the G4 you could clock that monkey up there. didn't they top out at like 1.67 in the G4 Powerbook?

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Yep, the Rev D and E models. 1.67GHz came in the 15" and 17" models. The 12" only went to 1.5GHz. But remember, the G4 was 32-bit. The jump to the 64-bit G5 would have been huge. Too bad the 1st Gen Intel Macs were only 32-bit.

I'll let you know as soon as I can get more photos. It's a clock-able CPU via dip switches. After having read what you all have said, I can almost with 100% certainty say she's a G5. I don't want to jinks it but based on what the engineer said about power consumption, the power supply configuration, and the fact I know this model was never released all point to it being a G5. I'm almost 100% certain the engineer said it was 64 bit too, pointing to a G5 chip. If that's the case, well then I know what's the newest top dog in my collection.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1348320

But the kicker for IBM and its customers is that the PowerPC 970FX is a one-size-fits-all architecture that accommodates servers as well as notebooks.
"The portable-space specs that are out there talk about 15 to 30 watts for maximum power. We want to be inside that envelope," Rohrer said. "The low-frequency operating conditions in the idle state?nap?are in the 1- to 2-watt range."

That will mean that any G5 notebooks will likely be clocked somewhat lower than the current G5 desktops.

In one hypothetical example of a low-power state, Rohrer said a PowerPC 970FX in the 1/64 "deep nap" state could run at 30MHz, which would equate to about 1.9GHz in full-speed mode. Apple's shipping dual-processor G5 desktops range in speed from 1.8GHz to 2.5GHz.

"That's the whole intention of this, to make it usable in low-end servers ... down into portables," Rohrer said. "To do that, you can't start with high voltage and high frequency; you can't hit 50 watts. You've got to start with a lower voltage and lower frequency and [then] adjust the voltage and drop the frequency."

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yeah i can see, i bet apple was just waiting to pop one of IBM's new moble CPU's in there… IBm couldn't make it happen in time… Intel was ready to go, Dual core too! so By By ibm.

1.4 DD2.0, 45W (P2).

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there you go… that is proof in my book…

yes its a G5 cpu…

at the time the G4 Powerbook 1.5ghz was 21 watts

I can't wait to see more of this machine. RetroMacCast will probably want you back too, to discuss this rare beast of a machine.

Also, whats that power supply rated at? I can only imagine what is required to feed such a power hungry processor. 8-o

I've said it before but - man Hap, you find the coolest toys.

Some thoughts regarding the possibility of it being a PowerBook G5...

1. It must not be a standard PowerBook G4 motherboard. The G5 used a completely different chip set, thus if it even smells like a G4 board, the idea of it having a G5 is right out.

2. The power curve seems a little low, but might be in the realm of possibility. The 17" MacBook Pros came with a 60W power supply, so if the whole point of the G5 not being in a notebook is that it was power hungry, having "only" a 45W PSU seems low. (For comparison, my 12" PowerBook G4 came with a 45W power supply. The slowest released G5 was 1.6 GHz, and the 17" iMac at that speed had a whopping 180W power supply. (It had to drive a desktop HD and higher-power graphics chip, but that's still quite a difference. *BUT* power usage is an exponential curve. It is entirely possible that Apple+IBM developed a lower-power chipset, and that by running the processor as slow as the apparent 1.1 GHz might have given just enough to allow it in a mobile form-factor. (That said, I would have to assume this was a very early "feasibility study" prototype, and that it likely had a very short battery life, with the thought that they would improve it by production-time.)

She's no clear portable...

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If it's what we think it is - it's 10x a clear Portable. If it's what we think it is, it's approaching "mint condition unmodified Lisa" in "historical worth". It could very well be in the neighborhood of an Apple I.

It all adds up - dates, codenames, power consumption. You've got me extremely excited now!

The 17" MacBook Pros came with a 60W power supply, so if the whole point of the G5 not being in a notebook is that it was power hungry, having "only" a 45W PSU seems low.

Click to expand...

at the time the G4 Powerbook 1.5ghz was 21 watts

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The 45W is not talking about the PSU. The 45W is how much power the processor its self is pulling. This means that the G5 in the PowerBook would be pulling 2x the watts of the G4 (thanks for the watts uni!). I'm willing to bet that the PSU is rated at 85+ watts, but hap would need to confirm, and thats if it has any markings at all.

From what I saw the PSU is entirely unmarked. I mean even the way the power chord from the wall plugs in is slight different than ANY mac charger. I mention that because I'd assume they wanted to make sure that no one would accidentally plug in this massive power brick into the.

The computer clearly says Q51 on it and the engineer said they it wasn't released because of terrible battery life and a massive power brick. It's a really cool find indeed. If it is a G5, hold onto your butts

i thought i was just talking about cpu power consumption.

well maybe there is all kinds of cool diagnostic utilities on the hd that shows individual component power consumptions… that would be bad ass!

If it is a G5, I would say it is a one of a kind. No other G5 PowerBooks have surfaced in the past and its probably more rare then the Twiggy Mac!

And if it is a G5, while a bit late to the party, MANY forum users (MacRumors, etc) are gonna be eating their words! Remember when a PowerBook G5 was the butt end of jokes for so long? Even after the first Intel desktops came out.

Holy cow. I'm not at all surprised that Apple built a G5 PowerBook prototype, but seeing as how this is the first glimpse of one they clearly did not get very far with it.

Tell you what, in this hobby it is not very often that we get "new" stuff. If I had this I might check with Lloyd of London on having it insured.

I received a copy of "Iconic" for Christmas and they have some photos of a first-gen MacBook (Pro? I think it's just a MacBook) Prototype that is quite similar to Hap's acrylic rig here. Not the same but the engineering prototype rigging is of the same type.

I know the guy who owns that. He's a really nice fella, you should see what else he's got. His works and is an Intel Core Duo that never shipped in the MacBooks. It's a nice piece indeed. I was going to post a pic of that myself but thanks mcdermd. That again confirms Apple still uses clear/transparent shots to this day. It's not the same as the older ones that the whole machine was actually plastic but just to get all the pieces together to evaluate.

I've got another example I'll post tonight of extremely recent clear shot stuff

I figured this just accentuates the differences between EVT and DVT prototypes.

Here's a really recent example of some more clear shot stuff...

For me its really blurry, so the only that can confirm would be hap.

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Here's that sticker for you all to see

Assembled in Taiwan? Weird. One would think it would have been assembled in the US at Apple HQ.

Found this:

http://www.elvikom.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=86420

Edit: I'll let this forum draw their conclusions from this schematic, but I already know what it means...

Well that answers that. So the same processor and southbridge as in the iMac.

Assembled in Taiwan? Weird. One would think it would have been assembled in the US at Apple HQ.

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I'm sure it means that the logic board was assembled by Foxconn in Taiwan, not the entire test rig.

His works and is an Intel Core Duo that never shipped in the MacBooks.

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I know for sure the first black and white 1,1 MacBooks shipped with 1.83 and 2.0GHz processors as my brother has one. They were 32-bit only and stuck on Snow Leopard. Its clear though so thats cool!

Here's that sticker for you all to see

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Ok so its probably going to have a 1.1GHz G5. It might have a faster one, since nothing was checked off.

Also notice how everything denoting it as a Q51 machine has been crossed out. I might (and there is a slim chance of this) be one of the first "Plan B" PowerBooks, as in it has an Intel processor (maybe a Pentium 4 like the Developer machines in the G5 case?). The engineer you bought it from did say it was never released, so I'm still in the G5 group.

I got it to boot once into 10.4 so that mean's it's a PPC machine right? Fixed the backlight so there's large victory but need to get a screen shot of the System Specs. I didn't check the System Specs when it loaded to 10.4 since I didn't think about it. I can get it to boot into Open Firmware at anytime. Does anyone know a command to have the machine list its specs in Open Firmware? That will solve this once and for all.

Open Firmware is PCC! This is good news! Intel's used EFI in place of OF.

I'll check and see if there is a command. The only time I used OF was to make the system think the processor was faster so I could install Leopard.

Try this:

dev /

ls

Also notice how everything denoting it as a Q51 machine has been crossed out. I might (and there is a slim The engineer you bought it from did say it was never released, so I'm still in the G5 group.

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I have full Q51 schematics. They're NOT hard to find. Q51 was definitely a G5-based design.

Appears it's just a myth right?

Two CPUs? Now there's something interesting. What's the rest of the output?

Looks like dual cups. Would be nice if it had the model number.

Darn. Its not a G5. The Powerbook 5,8 returns as the last 15" PowerBook Apple made. Interesting. It is a 17" model correct?

Now the G4 never came in a dual core model did it? Interesting. Maybe Apple was playing around with G5s and Dual G4s before switching to Intel. IBM was just having a heck of a time advancing the PowerPC as Apple would have needed. This just really proves how much the change to Intel was needed. I don't think Apple would have been able to create the Ultrabooks (MBPr and MBA) without them judging by the G5's design.

Well... what now?

After the spinoff from Motorola, Freescale did release a dual-core e600 chip (basically the PowerPC 74xx line renamed,) but as far as I can tell, that didn't come out until 2006-2007, so way too late for this model.

My guess is that it was a dual-"socket" model with two very-low-power G4 CPUs, and that it was the "contingency" to the PowerBook G5. (From the Q51 stuff that is there, then crossed out, I'm guessing that this test chassis was originally meant to house a G5, then it got repurposed for a G4.

I wonder what Apple would have called this machine if it to market.

"Introducing the new PowerBook G4 Dual Processor. The closest thing we could get to a G5 without make a brick."

Since we had the PowerMac G4 DP, so why not the PowerBook G4 DP. hap?

[neat idea]

Do you think a clone of this logic board design could eventually be produced that would be a drop in replacement for a normal PowerBook LB?

It would be made in the same form factor and have a similar component arrangement as a production G4 logic board to minimize mechanical problems (such as not fitting in the case, connectors being in the wrong place, etc.) It's a monumental undertaking, but since it exists, then the possibility of reverse engineering it also exists.

Hypothetically, if it were built, it could be built with faster G4 CPUs (perhaps something in the 1.67-2.0 GHz range), and then it could also have a more modern video chip and SATA drive interfaces. Perhaps some software features (such as improved power management) could be backported from newer machines to allow it to be more efficient.

I could go on, but I think you all get the point.

It would then be the fastest (and quite possibly the only) complete PPC PowerBook upgrade known to exist!

That would be really neat!

[/neat idea]

Anyway, from the looks of it, G5 or no, that prototype's one of a kind!

It would be interesting if there ever was a prototype with a G5 in it. This one looks like it was probably a part of some sort of feasibility study, and possibly was developed in parallel with or immediately after any sort of G5 prototype would've been built. The results of this study are probably what determined the need for the Intel switch.

That being said, a similar prototype with G5 CPU(s) most likely exists, it's just that nobody's found it, yet.

c

It would be interesting if there ever was a prototype with a G5 in it. This one looks like it was probably a part of some sort of feasibility study, and possibly was developed in parallel with or immediately after any sort of G5 prototype would've been built. The results of this study are probably what determined the need for the Intel switch.

That being said, a similar prototype with G5 CPU(s) most likely exists, it's just that nobody's found it, yet.

c

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Schematics for the logic board for a G5-based PowerBook prototype exist, dated Feb 23, 2004. I'm just going to say they're out there if you look under Q51. Power consumption numbers can be found on the third page, and they are absurd at 113W. My guess was that they went through the trouble of designing the logic board so they'd have a design ready to go as soon as lower-power G5 chips materalized. Except, they didn't. The design is roughly similar to an iMac G5, just with laptop-specific things like CardBus, battery charging, etc.

It is a 17" model correct? Well... what now?

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It is indeed a 17 inch. What's next I keep looking for more crazy stuff. I'm going to see if I can figure out what's up with the Q51 sticker and where that board went }

Since we had the PowerMac G4 DP, so why not the PowerBook G4 DP. hap?

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Well I'd assume because the power adapters fairly large as well as the engineer saying that it had stability problems. The charger is about the size of the first MagSafe charger. That was the largest they were "allowed" to build it and getting enough power to those chips with that size limitation proved very difficult. The engineers would use beefed up power bricks with adjustable voltage so they would run stable. When they were just running off the bricks it was iffy. I'd assume that was a major factor why this never made it to the market.

This is pretty rad - I had no idea Apple ever toyed with putting dual G4s into a portable. I don't think I've ever even heard rumor of it before.

the stability problems is probably the NVIDIA graphics… i bet it needs to be re-flowed…!!!!!!!!

makes sense… why they were so excited when the Dual core… Core DUO was available!!!!

they were like yeah … its INTEL bOOO… but its FAST!!! woooO!

and its dual core Wooooo!

and its fairly energy efficient Woooo!

But sir… we will probably piss off most of the MACHEADS going to INTEL you know…

yea… you are correct… but WE HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

I don't think Apple was ever dead set againt Intel itself (I haven't seen very much advertising though). I just think they were just trying to show consumers that (at least at the time) the PowerPC was faster then the Pentiums. The only thing that really surprised me was that the Developer Units had P4s in them.

What's next I keep looking for more crazy stuff.

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Hopefully you'll find either the G5 board for the machine or maybe a whole another clear PowerBook Q51 with the G5 board.

I gotta ask, are you in the Silicon Valley? I ask because you find some the craziest and rarest prototypes no one ever thought would have existed.

makes sense… why they were so excited when the Dual core… Core DUO was available!!!!
they were like yeah … its INTEL bOOO… but its FAST!!! woooO!

and its dual core Wooooo!

and its fairly energy efficient Woooo!

But sir… we will probably piss off most of the MACHEADS going to INTEL you know…

yea… you are correct… but WE HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol

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Core Duo wasn't available until Apple used it - they were the launch customer with the first Intel iMac in January 2006! If this is from 2003-2004, this significantly pre-dates the Core Duo. If it actually dates from 2003, it even predates the Core Duo being on a roadmap, as Intel hadn't yet committed fully to increasing core count as a means of speeding up systems. And in the Intel world, dual-socket systems were still in the realm of higher-end servers and workstations, not consumer machines. Apple was basically the only company that was selling dual-CPU systems to "consumers" (albeit high end ones) with the dual-CPU G4s and G5s.

It wasn't until 2005 that Intel released their first dual-core CPU, and had rewritten their roadmap to be fully riding on multi-core lower-power cores as opposed to fewer higher-power cores.

Well considering I'm best buds with the engineer who built that piece I'm not stopping until I find out more. Im gonna sit with this dude and his goody box and find something. I never walk away empty handed.

I mean hey I just got a DVT Quad Core G5 from him. Got all the testing stickers on it, DVT LCS, and it's a QUAD CORE! The code name for that project was DUCK. Also picked up an original iPhone prototype running skankphone that says "SkankPhone the Newton MessagePad 3000" pretty hilarious. All for the FREE99 price tag.

I gotta ask, are you in the Silicon Valley? I ask because you find some the craziest and rarest prototypes no one ever thought would have existed.

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Right in the thick of it baby. I'm always up on CL, and eBay looking for stuff. Honestly you just need to know what to look for. Both of the prototype Macintosh Portables I bought were not listed as such. I just know what to look for and knew what was up. Pick em up cheap, confirm my beliefs, add a 0 and make it a part of the mini museum.

DVT LCS, and it's a QUAD CORE! The code name for that project was DUCK.

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Heh - because it has webbed feet, right? A real puddle jumper.

What's crazy about the DVT LCS is there is SO much less tubing running in and round it. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing haha

Really cool find, hap. Please continue sharing more about that machine as you find it.

Given that the G5 was released as of mid 2003, I can believe that Apple had teams working both on duallie PowerBook G4s as well as a framework for a mobile G5 system. Although, at 113W, it's pretty exceedingly clear why Apple never shipped it. Haswell has some 47w mobile parts that are considered by most gadget sites and tech reviewers to be insane. (Incidentally, they're the quad core Haswell+Crystalwell chips that have IRIS Pro graphics with the 128mb on-die cache that can be used either as CPU cache or as video memory, they're also at a pretty high clock speed )

With that power envelope, it's not very surprising that this never showed up as a product, and my guess would be that it never really got beyond the phase of PCBs mounted on acrylic. It would be interesting to know whether or not there was a 15-inch version in the works. At 113w, it would need to be pretty fat and have a gargantuan brick to be viable.

yea… you are correct… but WE HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS

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The Intel transition is super interesting. It's said to have been started pretty early on. My guess is that the folks working on the Q51 didn't know about it, but this was going on in Apple at the time.

I'm trying to find a reference to it, but it's said that the Intel transition kind of came together at the last minute. I can't find the article I'd originally wanted, but it suggests that Steve Jobs literally waited until the evening before WWDC to decide which of two full-length WWDC presentations to show off, one featuring a Mac platform with renewed investment in PowerPC chips and the other featuring a Mac with Intel chips. It's entirely possible that I hallucinated that thought. Although, the stuff I've come up today about the "AIM" relationship is pretty interesting. On all fronts, Apple was in both a really bad and a really good position, with PowerPC. Even though Steve Jobs liked to be different, and PowerPC helped that happen, I don't know how much life there was left in the platform, at least for desktops and especially for laptops.

Here's some more prototype stuff for everyones enjoyment. Happy New Year! I'm going to see if I can top last years prototypes. Thanks to everyone for the support, help, and encouragement!

And I saved this one for last... Check out this Mac mini top cover. It's only the cover, the innards are my buddies I'm turning into another project for him since he's such a good guy. He was nice enough to give me the top case since he has no use for it. Look at that iPod mini dock connector on the back. Too bad they didn't release it with that. The story behind why the didn't was because the iPod mini team was so behind schedule they forced the Mac mini team to redesign the top without a dock since they could get it together in time. I doubt there's another.

That's really interesting haplain, would it have been for a G4 Mini? Does the lid fit and interface with a standard Mini?

So the guts on the inside of the entire prototype Mac mini are for the Intel Core Duo chipset. There's a connector on the top of the bridge board on the first Intel Mac mini's that doesn't do a thing. I always wondered what it was for, now I know. The lid will fit on any 2009 or before Mac mini. It's got the CD drive but it could also fit on the "server" models with no CD drive too.

I remember hearing rumours about this back in the day, very cool to now know that they did build such a beast.

PUCKS. These show the subtle variations that each and every device Apple creates goes through. You can see the small differences in the depth and contour of the different designs. They serve no purpose other than to show the size, weight, and form of the "final" product. These are from the iPhone 3G and I'd imagine hundreds of these exist in Apple internally, and a few with me

Given that the G5 was released as of mid 2003, I can believe that Apple had teams working both on duallie PowerBook G4s as well as a framework for a mobile G5 system. Although, at 113W, it's pretty exceedingly clear why Apple never shipped it. Haswell has some 47w mobile parts that are considered by most gadget sites and tech reviewers to be insane. (Incidentally, they're the quad core Haswell+Crystalwell chips that have IRIS Pro graphics with the 128mb on-die cache that can be used either as CPU cache or as video memory, they're also at a pretty high clock speed )
With that power envelope, it's not very surprising that this never showed up as a product, and my guess would be that it never really got beyond the phase of PCBs mounted on acrylic. It would be interesting to know whether or not there was a 15-inch version in the works. At 113w, it would need to be pretty fat and have a gargantuan brick to be viable.

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Comparing that power figure to anything modern is a little dirty pool. Remember that around the time the G5 was introduced "notebooks" (Luggables? Mobile workstations?) using the "Mobile Pentium 4" were the high-end of the Wintel market and some of those approached 90 watts TDP for the CPU alone. A Mac laptop based on a G5 would have been, well, no worse, than those things. Marketing might have been something of a problem given Apple's emphasis on slimness/lightness/etc. from the first titanium G4s, but by shouting "It's PROFESSIONAL" loudly enough they probably could have moved them out the door if they performed decently, which is of course the real $64,000 question. Those Mobile Pentium 4 laptops almost inevitably hit their thermal limits and were forced to throttle the CPU when continually stressed, it's very likely a G5 laptop would have the same problem unless the cooling system was positively miraculous.

A couple years ago someone claimed to me that they'd actually seen with their own eyes a working G5 prototype Powerbook (It belonged to an Apple engineer who was dating their ex-girlfriend or something, it's complicated), but I'm not sure how much stock I put in that report; the unit was described as looking basically like an Aluminum G4 but about twice as thick and "functional, but buggy". I suppose if that machine actually exists haplain's bound to trip over it sooner or later; I wonder if it could have actually been a dual G4 prototype after seeing the acrylic monster in this thread. Or a Sasquatch riding in a UFO with the Loch Ness monster.

In 2003? The chips in the ThinkPad T30, as one example, were up to 35w. This is the chip in my particular T30, back when I had it: http://ark.intel.com/products/27356/Mobile-Intel-Pentium-4-Processor---M-1_80-GHz-512K-Cache-400-MHz-FSB

30W. I actually have more than one late Core2Duo laptop with a higher TDP. (at 35w, it's not much higher, but there you have it.) Neither of these machines throttles a lot.

At the time, luggables built around desktop parts were common, but true laptops, even the flagship ThinkPad and Latitude models, were using mobile parts at 30-35w. (I haven't personally used one of these luggables significantly, so I haven't seen their throttling due to thermal limits personally.)

For Apple to have done that, it would absolutely need to have been gargantuan. It would have been the G40 to the T30 (which itself, admittedly, was not exactly svelte, and the ultraportables in the lineup were using the Pentium IIIm until the Pentium M was available.) or the Inspiron 9100. Even more than a decade ago, Apple was not interested in building that.

Although, whether or not they could get the G5 down far enough in power usage and TDP for cooling and powering it in a mobile form factor to be reasonably possible at all remains kind of at large. Apple could, of course, have muddled its chart by offering uniprocessor G4 machines as portable machines and a trans-portable clamshell G5 as a sort of "mobile workstation." It wouldn't be the fist or last time Apple reneged on a stance once the technology changed or a market for something became clear. (iPad mini, bigger iPhone, Intel processors, I'm sure the list goes on and on.)

If Apple simply gave up on the idea that it was "portable" but rather "trans-portable" -- they could have avoided putting a battery in, thus leaving more room for computing guts and cooling, and given it a beefier, possibly built-in power supply. That would have been a hilarious, but still very interesting machine.

If Apple simply gave up on the idea that it was "portable" but rather "trans-portable" -- they could have avoided putting a battery in, thus leaving more room for computing guts and cooling, and given it a beefier, possibly built-in power supply. That would have been a hilarious, but still very interesting machine.

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Which they did - in the form of the iMac G5. It shrunk the iMac line from the "monitor on a stick on top of a large ball" iMac G4 to the "screen with a computer built in" that lives to this day. An iMac is a fully transportable computer for this use. They even had a 17" model as the small one. It's definitely no fun to lug around long distances, but it CAN be done.

In 2003? The chips in the ThinkPad T30, as one example, were up to 35w. This is the chip in my particular T30, back when I had it: http://ark.intel.com/products/27356/Mobile-Intel-Pentium-4-Processor---M-1_80-GHz-512K-Cache-400-MHz-FSB

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The "Pentium 4M" and "Mobile Pentium 4" (with 533mhz FSB) were different products. And here you go, here's the worst-case model with its 88 W TDP. Granted, that is a Prescott chip from mid/late-2004 but Norwood Mobile Pentium 4s with 70+ watt TDPs were shipping in mid-2003. And, yes, the computers based on them were horrible but people *did* buy them from outfits like Alienware for situations where the maximum portable performance humanly possible was what they were after. I totally agree that huge, brick-heavy "Lan Party" laptops aren't the sort of thing that Steve Jobs would have been thrilled with, but I suspect that *if* the G5 had really turned out to be the performance revolution they were hoping for they would have gone for it. (Undoubtedly while retaining the G4 for "slim" applications until IBM could cough up something that had a prayer of working for that.) However:

1: The G5 turned out to not really be all that and a side of fries; in the low-end tower configurations in particular it sometimes came off as worse than a pair of G4s but with more power draw.

2: Pentium M (no "4") laptops also premiered in 2003. It's too easy to forget what a revolution those machines were; a 1.4Ghz Pentium M outruns a Pentium 4M at 2.6Ghz and does it with a TDP of 22 watts vs. 35. (And as the Pentium M crept towards the 2Ghz mark it started outrunning even the best desktop P4s with, again, a much lower TDP.) With machines like that coming out a "Pregnant Guppy" mobile from Apple would have just looked stupid.

#2 Is undoubtedly the real reason for the Intel transition, of course. It is notable that the *very last* round of G5s from IBM could manage a 30 watt-ish TDP, and therefore could have made it into a not-horrible laptop, but that was with a 1.6 Ghz clock and everyone remembers what a dog the 1.6 Ghz G5 tower turned out to be. The writing was clearly on the wall.

Neither of these machines throttles a lot.

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Most of my experience with Pentium 4M machines involved a Dell Latitude 640, and that thing was a dog. Unless you turned the power management off, then it sounded like a hair dryer and was still distinctly canine in aspect, if not actually a dog anymore. Barely faster than the Pentium III-based C610s and totally a boat-anchor compared to the D600. It was still nicer than those stupid Mobile Pentium 4 (or just straight-up desktop Pentium 4) "LAN Party" laptops, however. I have a long semi-boring/comical story about someone's bright idea to buy some of those to run a mobile training class on that I'll skip repeating. Suffice it to say that were I ever to find a laptop like that in the wild today it's one of the few pieces of technology I'd totally be up for "Office Space"-ing to death just for the cleansing joy of it.

Although Netburst occupies the same soft spot in my heart that G4/G5 occupies in the hearts of many, I'll totally acknowledge that the Pentium M was a better chip in every single sense.

The C640 and T30 were pretty similar, do you know whether the C640 was using the "Mobile Pentium 4" or the "Pentium 4M" ? My T30 had a sticker reading "Pentium 4m" on it, but I've just never spent that much time with a C640.

In terms of doggedness, I had a gig of ram and a very new (like, from 2009 or 2010) disk in my T30, which probably contributed to its relative sprightliness. It matches the 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 in Cinebench, despite being two years older, and it ran Windows 7 well enough. I was able to play a few YouTube videos on it and run iTunes, but (and I've long presumed this was a RAM constraint) it was not pleasant to run very many applications at once. (This is the case with the machine that replaces it on my desk, a ThinkPad X31 with a 1.4GHz Pentium M and anywhere from 768m to 1.5GB of ram, so at least part of this is that I'm running Windows 7 on decade-old hardware. The X31 now runs a console-only Debian Linux installation, but that's another story.)

The C640 and T30 were pretty similar, do you know whether the C640 was using the "Mobile Pentium 4" or the "Pentium 4M" ? My T30 had a sticker reading "Pentium 4m" on it, but I've just never spent that much time with a C640.

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The C640 was also a 4M at... I don't honestly remember, 1.8ghz? To be fair I guess it wasn't a *terrible* machine in and of itself, it just came off rather badly when compared to both its predecessors *and* its successors. The C610s I was comparing it to had the 1.13 Ghz Mobile Pentium III-M, and... wow, that actually has a higher average Passmark score than the 1.8ghz Pentium 4M does. It was heavier and got worse battery life than P-III as well, so its whole existence sort of seemed pointless. (The one good point about it was it had a 1400x1050 screen vs. 1024x768.)

Again, though, it was still a much nicer machine than those "Lan Party" laptops. (I can't remember if they were actual Alienware units or knockoffs.) Huge, flimsy, loud, the battery was basically a 1 hour UPS, terrible.

It matches the 1.67GHz PowerBook G4 in Cinebench, despite being two years older, and it ran Windows 7 well enough.

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It's amazing how Apple was able to keep perpetuating the illusion that the G4 was even remotely competitive after about 2002. The one crutch it had to stand on was the Altivec unit, which is what let it keep winning a select few media-related benchmarks, but for general-case IPC the G4 is basically a Pentium II/III competitor and it really started to suffer from memory bus starvation once the clock was ramped up into the Ghz ballpark. I do sort of wonder in retrospect what Apple's plan was for laptops when they gave the nod to using the G5; were they just really optimistic that IBM could deliver a laptop version, were they counting on a skunkworks deal with what became P. A. Semi to deliver a workable PWRficient CPU three years earlier than what actually played out, or what?

it just came off rather badly when compared to both its predecessors *and* its successors.

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Having owned an X24, T30, and X31, I have tried not to compare the T30 to the two X series machines, because it sits in a different class of hardware, and the X24 was hampered by a fairly low ram ceiling compared to a T23, which would probably make the T30 look worse than it did to me. I have a T42p, but I don't have a T40, but I have no problems believing that the Pentium M coupled with the doubled memory capacity of the T40 would make that look a whole lot better than the T30 as well.

With the T40 having been available in 2003 as well, it's interesting to think about how badly the G4s were doing at the time, compared to x86 machines. (Again, I was not only drinking the Mac Koolade from about 2002 all the way through like 2007, I was the proprietor of the Koolade, and I made reasonably specific and heavy attempts to prove that Apple was omg the bestest evar on a pretty regular basis.)

Here's a question for you all? What macs have you heard exist, that haven't been found yet? Maybe that's the best way for me to continue my quest :beige:

Here's a question for you all? What macs have you heard exist, that haven't been found yet? Maybe that's the best way for me to continue my quest :beige:

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Nice... nice... rub it in....

:lol:

So how many Twiggy Macs do you have?

Haha tu chez ok added to the list

Would a MultiServer count since it never went into production? Or do you already have a dozen of them and use them to keep the hot tub level?

Good call also added. Ones for sale right now. I'm talking to the guy about it. 5k's a tad steep.

Good call also added. Ones for sale right now. I'm talking to the guy about it. 5k's a tad steep.

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He has A LOT of stuff. Bought a few things from him over the years. I thought for a while he stepped away from things. Tempted to buy one Lisa part from him per week so I can just build my own without a huge upfront cost!

Hmmm, I know going dark grey for the PowerBook was an issue. Interesting seeing a beige-like 100 series...

Not sure what the clear closed one is.

Yeah he's also a serious boss, no doubt. I have mad respect for Paul.

Looking at the speakers mounted behind the display, I'm guessing that that one would be a Hooper (3400) or Kanga G3 prototype.

It ain't clear like me PB140 though

hey what does the sticker on the bottom of the pb 140 say?

No sticker, she's naked. I don't think another one exist though. I've seen the 170's but not a 140

i bet if we could make it a 170 it would be worth more people love the 170, not really the 140.

besides how do you know its a 140 anyways?

the crappy screen?

Looking at the speakers mounted behind the display, I'm guessing that that one would be a Hooper (3400) or Kanga G3 prototype.

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Looks like a 5300/190 to me, complete with borked hinge...

I'd second Anonymous Freak, it looks identical to my 2 5300s (of course mine aren't clear). In fact thats the original power supply. Speaker is mounted between the "Macintosh" and "PowerBook 5300" (or 190) logos inside the display.

Ahh, yes - didn't see that. Just noticed that, I just saw the big round things on the back of the LCD, which I assumed were the 3400/G3's "subwoofers".

Back a couple pages. If anyone wants a q51 schematic, let me know. I have the full one on PDF. Haplain, did you ever figure out a code name for the the repackaged Q51? I may be able to pull a schematic for it but I need its Q code name.

Back a couple pages. If anyone wants a q51 schematic, let me know. I have the full one on PDF.

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Wouldn't mind having a look at that schematic, actually. PM sent.

Got this hanging over the entrance to my museum. It's a unique vintage Apple Store sign. Just wanted to share.

So I still have yet to get the dual PPC prototype PowerBook to boot to a stable OS. I can however get it to boot to a 10.4 install disk and then go to the System Profiler to see what it's got. It's a dual 1.5Ghz PPC chip.

I also rearranged since I've gotten a lot more prototype iOS stuff than when I last took a photo.

Re worked some items on shelves.

Also, I grabbed this DVT Apple PowerCD. It's pretty cool but the production unit and the prototype are two different colors. You can see the prototype (front) compared to the production model behind it.

This is a 17" PowerBook 1.0 fully prototype. The unit is one of the first cuts straight from the CNC, and lightly polished. The logic boards red and everything on it/in it is DVT. I put 10.4.11 on it so I can have classic and she works like a charm. It's a really cool machine. Now I have the bookends. The first 17" 1.0Ghz prototype PowerBook and the last, unreleased 17" Dual 1.5GHz Powerbook. If I only I can get the dual PPC to boot to a real OS. Oh well you can only do so much in a weekend

Damn! How do you get these cool artifacts????

Cool friends. They usually take a little bit of work but it's always well worth it

lol a little work and a pocket full of hundies

Nice work hap! That PowerBook G4 1GHz looks really cool! Chrome, almost.

Sounds like the PBG4DP is going to need a custom OS. Not surprising, since it was never released. I'm guessing the friend you bought it from couldn't find the original drive?

Yeah, I kind of wish they had come out with something like that. It would have been awful to keep clean and not scuff though.

I had a drive but it failed and I wasn't able to recover anything off of it sadly. My buddies seeing if he can dig out some disks for it. We will eventually get it sorted out, until then I'll continue my quest for more stuff!

Sucks about the hard drive. It was completely toast?

Yeah it was no good but I'll figure it out. It always makes it sweeter when I get it working after some serious stress. Thus far my track records good so I remain hopeful. Does anyone think that maybe trying to install 9.2.2 would help to get it working? I'd be okay running 9.2.2-10.5 if I knew which one would work. I haven't tried 10.5 yet.

Well, the 5,8 that shipped didn't support a native boot of OS 9, so its safe to assume the PBG4DP Proto is the same.

Maybe a 10.0 public beta or 10.0 standard would work

Maybe a 10.0 public beta or 10.0 standard would work

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Are you talking about this on the dual CPU prototype? I rather doubt it. If there's one consistent rule about Macs it's that they *never* boot OS releases older than themselves and if the dual CPU unit is really in the "5,8" family it probably won't boot anything less than 10.4.something. (Another possibility is the 5,8 designation was reused and simply means "successor to 5,7", but that would still make the oldest OS at all likely to run on it a late version of 10.3.) Are you booting it with a "Retail" 10.4 disk, and if so, does it attempt to install or does it complain the system is unsupported? I'd hazard that cloning a working 10.4 install from another machine is probably your best shot at making it go, but if that's not working, I dunno, maybe Leopard?

(I have to wonder if the 5,8 designation, since that applies to the shipped 1.67 high-def screen model, might be causing the system to load the wrong set of kernel modules for a dual CPU or some other hardware element. It might be interesting to try a PPC Linux disk on it and see what happens.)

Ok well maybe I'll try 10.5 and see if that gets me anything.

Any chance I could somehow test/remove the 5,8 designation?

It has to do with the OS. By the model identifier, it loads up the proper drivers. Since the 5,8 shipped without a DP, it can't load the proper drivers with a standard OS. Thats my guess.

I FINALLY GOT ONE!!!! I was super excited to see this pop up. Now I just need a frame.

Is that going to hand above the NeXTCube? Nice nab!

Maybe. I might put it in my back shed that's where I have all my tools etc.

maybe you could frame it.. and your GF will let you have it in the living room…

or maybe you can put it on the ceiling in your bed room

LOL

Just grabbed this

Not bad! Especially considering it was originally listed at $4k (maybe more)!

6500 is where it started. Didn't pay that and will maybe use it for a trade.

6500 is where it started. Didn't pay that and will maybe use it for a trade.

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Okay, I thought it was more but the auction I found was $4k. Crazy. No matter the start price, I think you made out really well on that one!

Thanks. I continue my conquest for the clear Portable.

If I'm not mistaken, that looks like a MacBook Pro of some sort with a DVT prototype wireless card.

Based on the limited evidence, it appears to be otherwise production or very late pre-production, unless you all know something I don't?

c

Yeah it's some kind of late stage DVT model. I'd assume the wireless chip was what was being evaluated. Also the fact the board is not the standard logic board color for that machine is another indication it's not a production model. Lastly the EMC number being XXXX means it was a test unit. Overall I'm happy with the purchase and think it was worthwhile. It's hard to find newer DVT units like this. After the iPhone 4 was "lost" Apple really got crazy about everything. This was the model before that loss but one I doubt we see many prototype things from 2010 on.

you must get a clear portable !

Being in the SF bay area allows me unique opportunities given the proximity to Apple. I was unable to attend the 30th Mac celebration at De Anza (sad) but that didn't stop me from making some new friends! As some of you may recall I was on a retromaccast podcast a few weeks back. That got me excited but I didn't know when I'd be on there next so it was bittersweet. Well, as fate would have it, James the host of retromaccast was in the area and wanted to drop by. He said he'd like to bring a friend too, which is obviously fine... well much to my surprise Jonathan Zufi, the author of ICONIC, graced my museum with his presence. I was extremely excited to show him what I have, talk shop, talk about my new acquisition (the massive collection we picked up), etc. It's a really a blast to officially meet James, what a good guy, and Jonathan, a legend on his own. My prototypes spoke for themselves and left both speechless, perfect!

For those of you who haven't seen Jonathan's book, I really think you should (http://iconicbook.com)

I received that book for xmas and it is indeed awesome.

hap is kinda like a Mac Rock Star

I picked up these little guys over the last week. The one frankenstein looking one is a iPhone 3G thermal testing unit. All those little wires coming out would have been hooked up to a thermocouple to make sure the resistors were within spec.

The other is an unreleased, black chrome iPod touch. How bada** is that? Why the hell didn't Apple come out with the black chrome, it's real classy like.

That iPod touch is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTT LOOKING! Nice find!

I wonder why Apple didn't release one?

iPod Stealth! Does it charge?

It charges and works. The white device is an evt unit even the battery.

Which white device?

Also, is that iPod touch running the testing firmware or a full version of iOS?